Facts in News

Facts in News

Karen Ethnic Minority

• The term Karen refers to a number of ethnic groups with Tibetan-Central Asian origins.
• These are indigenous to the Thailand-Myanmar border region in Southeast Asia.
• They speak Karenic languages ‘12 related but mutually unintelligible languages’ that are part of the Tibeto-Burman group of the Sino-Tibetan family.
• The vast majority of Karen are Buddhists and a large number converted to Christianity during British rule.
• The Karen National Liberation Army is the armed wing of the Karen National Union, the main political organization representing the Karen minority.
• The Karen and the Kachin in northern Myanmar are the two major ethnic armed organisations that have allied themselves with the movement against the junta that took power in Myanmar.

(Image Courtesy: BBC)

Broadbalk Experiment

• The Broadbalk field in Hertfordshire county of southern England has been under continuous scientific experiments for the past 178 years, making it the world’s oldest and longest running study. 
• It was started by agricultural scientist John Bennet Lawes and chemist Joseph Henry Gilbert under the Rothamsted Research institution in the autumn of 1843, when the first crop of wheat was sown there.
• Every year, researchers sown winter wheat on all or some parts of the field to compare crop yields, when grown using inorganic fertilisers with those when grown using organic or farmyard manure (FYM). A patch that receives no fertiliser or manure inputs is also maintained for control treatment.
• Aim: To test the effects of different organic and inorganic fertilisers on soil fertility and study the optimum nutrition requirements to improve crop yield.
• In India too, long-term fertiliser experiments are being carried out at 17 Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) centres since 1970 to study changes in soil quality, crop productivity and sustainability.

(Image Courtesy: DTE)

Oath Administration in Legislature

• Article 164(3) of the Indian Constitution states that before a Minister enters upon his office, the Governor shall administer to him the oaths of office and of secrecy according to the forms set out in the Third Schedule.
  • The Third Schedule requires the taker of the oath to either “swear in the name of God” or to “solemnly affirm” to “bear true faith and allegiance to the Constitution”.
• Article 164 makes it clear that the text of the oath is sacrosanct, and the person taking the oath has to read it out exactly as it is, in the given format.
• If a Minister wanders from the text of the oath, it is the responsibility of the Governor, who is administering the oath, to interrupt and ask the person being sworn in to read it out correctly.
• Once the Governor takes it as read, and the Secretary to the Governor has attested that the oath has been administered, it cannot be legally challenged.

Lumpy Skin Disease

• It is caused by infection of cattle or  buffalo with the poxvirus Lumpy skin disease virus (LSDV).
  • The virus is one of three closely related species within the genus capripoxvirus, the other two species being Sheeppox virus and Goatpox virus.
• Due to its infectious nature and its implications on the economy, the World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE) declares it as a notifiable disease.
• According to the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), in some cases (under 10%) the infected animal succumbs to the disease.

Symptoms

• It appears as nodules of two to five-centimetre diameter all over the body, particularly around the head, neck, limbs, udder and genitals.
• The lumps gradually open up like large and deep wounds.

     Image Courtesy:IE

Transmission

• The LSD virus easily spreads by blood-sucking insects like mosquitoes, flies and ticks and through saliva and contaminated water and food.

Spread 

• Globally
  • Historically, LSD has remained confined to Africa, where it was first discovered in 1929, and parts of West Asia.
  • LSD was first reported in Asia and the Pacific region in 2019 in north west China, Bangladesh and India. 

• In India 
  • In India, which has the world’s highest 303 million heads of cattle, the disease has spread to 15 states within just 16 months.
  • There is no surety of the origin of the disease in India. It probably happened through mechanical transmission via vectors across the border or through illegal imports of cattle.

Treatment 

• No treatment is available for the disease.

World Thalassemia Day

• World Thalassemia Day is celebrated on May 8 every year to commemorate Thalassemia victims and to encourage those who struggle to live with the disease. 
• Theme for 202: Addressing Health Inequalities Across the Global Thalassaemia Community.

Thalassemia

• It  is a blood disorder in which the body has less hemoglobin than normal. 
• The disorder results in the extreme damage of red blood cells, which leads to a condition where the body doesn’t have sufficient regular healthy red blood cells. This condition in medical terms is called Anaemia
• The disorder is primarily inherited by individuals from their parents

• There are two major types of thalassemia alpha and beta. They have been named after the genetic effects in thes (alpha and beta ) protein chains. 

Symptoms

• Dark coloured urine
  • Slowed body growth and development
  • Extreme fatigue and tiredness
  • Pale or yellow coloured skin

Treatment

• Transfusion of blood
  • Supplements and medications
  • Surgery to remove the affected parts
  • Transplantation of bone marrow

Image Courtesy :Medlineplus

Anamalai Tiger Reserve (ATR)

• Anamalai Tiger Reserve is carved out of the Tamil Nadu portion of the Anamalais. 
• It lies South of the Palakkad gap in the Southern Western Ghats. 
  • It  falls within the Western Ghats mountain chain of SouthWest India, a region designated as one of 25 Global Biodiversity Hotspots.
• It possesses diverse fauna and flora, well representative of the region. 
• The Tiger Reserve supports diverse habitat types viz. Wet evergreen forests, semi evergreen forests, moist deciduous, dry deciduous, dry thorn and shola forests.